


For a Peaceful World

by xoxodisasterbabe



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23347072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxodisasterbabe/pseuds/xoxodisasterbabe
Summary: Byleth didn't pick the Golden Deer, and Claude has never met her before. It doesn't make sense.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 111





	For a Peaceful World

**Author's Note:**

> i got emotional when i restarted 3h because i love claude

The new professor certainly was peculiar, Claude thought.

She was trying to convince Felix to get onto a horse, on this particular day. It was a funny display; Felix trying to hide his obvious discomfort and Byleth’s absolute disregard for it, and an overly enthusiastic Sylvain trying to be of help. Claude wondered whether it would go smoother if Sylvain hadn't been there, because he mostly seemed to distract Felix who got more and more irritated. The fact that Felix even had agreed to try, however, was an incredible feat from Byleth’s side but the Blue Lions had improved and advanced at a ridiculous speed since she had started teaching them. Going against her recommendations would be stupid at this point. She had even given him a suggestion to pick up an axe, which had felt odd at first; axes were heavy, and slow and almost as far from bows as one could get. But he had stuck with it, and after the initial struggle, found himself excelling in the weapon class. That woman’s intuition was something else, for sure.

Claude still hadn't really gotten over the fact that she had chosen to mentor the Blue Lions, rather than his own class. He felt a little miffed; he thought he had her charmed, or well, at least interested for sure. She had looked at him like she was looking into his soul, which had been unnerving and fascinating. It was almost as if she looked sad whenever she looked at him, but she was so unreadable that Claude was convinced he was wrong about that, because how would that make any sense when they had never met before?

Despite choosing a different class, the professor still seemed to pay quite a bit of attention to him. Sometimes, he'd look over and catch her staring and she would always stop and talk to him when they passed each other around the monastery, which was odd since she so rarely spoke. And she smiled at his jokes, even though she never looked directly at him when she did so. However, Claude wasn't about to blame their frequent interactions completely on Byleth; he would also stop to talk, swing by and ask her questions, and look at her from the corner of his eye. It was weird, but he was drawn to her and he felt oddly relaxed when she was around, it was like he could truly be himself for a little while and it was _nice_.

Then, two months after she had appeared and as suddenly as she had become a professor, she stopped speaking to him. Or, well, she didn't stop speaking to him, but she no longer stopped when she saw him, and didn't seem interested in having the conversations he started. It made something curl uncomfortably in Claude’s’ stomach, every time he tried to meet her eyes to see them look away. He hadn't done anything, that he knew of. They had had a mock battle, and after that, he had seen her smile around her own students for the first time and then she had stopped being his friend. He wondered whether she had out-schemed him, or had had ulterior motives when it came to their conversations but they had been so casual that that theory seemed unlikely. Plus, he could always spot a schemer. What could she have been planning, anyway?

Claude let a week pass. Then he stopped approaching her. Then another week went by, and yet another one, and by the end of the third one it was like he was made of air; and by this point he had realized that this treatment of him didn't extend to anybody else. She spoke to the other students in his house; especially Marianne, and Leonie of course due to their shared connection to Jeralt, and she spoke to Edelgard. But Claude was air. And it bothered him. The day before the Blue Lions were scheduled to travel to Gaspard for a mission with the Knights of Seiros, Marianne told him that she was going to be in Byleth’s class from now on. Claude stared at her. She was looking at her feet, expression worried as ever, and although something was sinking inside of he thought that maybe this was for the best. He hadn't gotten through to her, maybe Byleth could. But then again, Marianne was the only one focused on Faith in their class. Lysithea knew how to heal, but...

"I..." He started, and Marianne looked up, startled. Claude sighed, and offered up his best smile. "I respect your decision. And I understand. She's a good teacher, and a good person." he said, despite not actually knowing whether the last part was true; it just rolled of his tounge. Marianne nodded hastily and excused herself before he had an opportunity to say anything else.

He really had to talk to Byleth.

* * *

"Stealing my classmates now?"

Byleth jumped, and turned around, almost dropping her fishing rod. For a split second she glared at him, but her face dropped into an expression that Claude could only describe as blank. She didn't answer, and he sighed.

"Listen, that's fine. It's fine. Why aren't you talking to me?" he asked. It came out sounding oddly pitiful, and something threatened to push itself up his throat. Something unreadable flashed across Byleth’s face, and Claude squinted, taking a deep breath to try to combat the strange bodily reactions he was having.

"Did I do something? Say something?" he offered, when Byleth didn't reply. Her eyes seemed to look past him; she was at the edge of the pier, and the only way out of there was to push past him. Claude had purposely picked to confront her here, for that very reason. She wouldn't be able to just slip away. Claude cleared his throat. It was risky, what he was about to say, but he had a feeling it would pay off.

"I know this is going to sound weird, but... I kind of thought we hit it off. At first, I just wanted to learn from you, because you're skilled, but I liked talking to you. No one else gets how I'm thinking, but you do. And I don't know if you were putting up a front, or whatever, but I thought I kind of got you too." Claude was rarely this honest with anybody, but it felt right. And there was payoff. Byleth’s expression fell, before she looked up and finally looked at him, really looked at him.

"I can't." she said quietly, and the sorrow in her words felt like they wrapped themselves around his throat. It threw him off balance, and he still didn't understand why.

"You can't what?" he replied, equally quiet. Byleth’s eyes looked like they were getting wet, and the constricting feeling around his throat got tighter. He wanted to reach out and touch her. He didn't understand _why_. Something inside Claude was starting to freak out; he was out of his depth here, there were strings for him to pull.

"I... I just can't, Claude-" Byleth started, but with his name leaving her lips it looked as if something burst inside of her, as her legs seemed to give way and she sank down slowly, hands covering her face. Claude’s body moved on its own, and suddenly, he was next to her and wrapping his arms around her. It was probably completely inappropriate, and in the back of his head he wondered what would happen if somebody saw them, but the thought faded as quickly as it appeared; it felt irrelevant. He swallowed to keep his own, unexplainable tears down, as Byleth choked when he pulled her against him. It felt familiar. A weak arm tried to push him away, but he didn't let it and she quickly gave up. They sat there, for a moment, Byleth obviously fighting her tears and Claude looking up at the sky, confusion and sadness mixing in his head to a point where it was starting to give him a headache. When the muffled sobs quieted, he looked down at her, watching her take deep breaths, in and out. Then, she looked up at him, and slowly moved to stand again. Claude let go of her, tried to not think about how cold it felt to not have her pressed against him, and rose as well. Byleth sighed and looked up at the sky before meeting his eyes again.

"Come." She suddenly said resolutely and started walking. Claude followed her wordlessly. The students they passed stared at them, but Byleth either didn't notice or was completely unbothered by it. Claude on the other hand, felt uncomfortable. Exposed. When they finally reached Byleths room, he sank down on her bed without thinking. When he realized that he was sitting on his teachers bed, his head quickly snapped up to look at her, but she didn't seem to care at all, and was instead placing two teacups on the small table between them. They were going to have tea, now? Claude didn't even ask.

"I don't have any gingersnaps, sorry." she said, pouring him a cup of tea. Claude stared at her.

"How did you know I like gingersnaps?" He asked. Byleth looked up at him, blinked a couple of seconds, and then she sighed.

"Right." She mumbled under her breath, before placing herself across him. No answer to his question. Claude picked up the teacup without really thinking, and took a sip and it gave him the second? Third? (he didn't even know anymore) surprise since they had entered Byleth’s room.

"This is my favourite tea." He said, quietly, staring into the cup. When he looked up at Byleth again, she had the saddest smile Claude had ever seen on her face.

"I know."

"What..." He asked but didn't even know what he wanted to ask so no more words came out. It was uncharacteristic for him, but then again, the situation was completely _bonkers_. Byleth sighed.

"I don't know what I can tell you." she said. She looked troubled. Unsure. Claude didn't say anything, instead choosing to wait, hoping that it would draw out more words from her. It worked. She sighed deeply but continued.

"I didn't know it would be like this." she said, which was even more cryptic. “I promise you I have good reasons as to why I’ve taken on Marianne.”

“Yeah, no, I meant it when I said that it was fine.” Claude stressed, somewhat distracted by everything else spinning around in his head.

“Good.” She said. Claude just nodded, puzzled expression remaining on his face. Byleth was quiet for a little bit before she spoke again.

"Claude." She looked at him, voice a little shaky but determined, like she had just made up her mind about something. "If I told you I could turn back time, would you believe me?" Claude blinked, and then he _snorted_.

"That's a good one." He started, but then he looked up at her and his smile fell. "Except... That's not your lying face." The corner of Byleth’s mouth twitched, and she looked away again, mumbling something that sounded like ‘ _said that before_ _’_ , and Claude continued to stare at her.

"Hold up. What do you mean?" he asked, dumbfounded. Maybe he had heard something wrong. Byleth shook her head slowly.

"I don't know if I can trust you. Not here." She said. Claude’s brow furrowed.

"Here?" He echoed.

"Here."

"Where's here?" He asked. Byleth sighed.

"Maybe I should say _"now"_ instead." She replied.

"Here and now?" Claude probed.

"Something like that."

It was starting to get frustrating. She looked like she wanted to tell him something, but she didn't.

"Talk to me." rolled off his tounge, without thought. "You can trust me. I promise." That was an odd promise for him to make, but he meant it. He knew that he meant it. When he said it, he knew that he was never going to be able to go back on it. Screw it. The room was quiet for a minute, they just looked at each other, both trying to make out what the other was thinking.

"Okay." Byleth finally whispered, voice wavering. It felt like someone was sticking needles into Claudes heart.

"I need you to know that I didn't know it would affect you." she said, before she closed her eyes and continued speaking, giving no time for Claude to wonder what that was supposed to mean.

"I know you. You know me. Better than anybody. I know your favorite tea, I know the questions you have about the church." She opened her eyes again. "I know that you’re Almyran and that your name is Khalid." she said. Claude froze.

"I know this because we have spent time together. A lot of time, in fact. But not now. Not here. But we have." she continued. Claude continued to stare, his heart beating like a drum in his ears.

"Is that why you knew I would be good with an axe?" he said, finally, his mind too scattered to think of anything else. Byleth laughed, and something in his stomach fluttered. It had been a while since he had made her laugh, he realized.

"Yes." She replied. Claude closed his eyes and tried to gather at least some of his thoughts.

"Okay. Okay. So." He looked at Byleth, serious despite how ridiculous what he was about to say was. "You're a time traveller. We know each other in the future. You have travelled back in time. Why was that, again?" he asked. A time traveller. That was fine, it was fine. Perfectly normal.

"We're actually supposed to know each other now." she replied, quietly. "But we can't."

"Why?"

"Because I am making different choices. I have to." she sighed. Claude gestured for her to go on. "I don't know how to tell you any of this."

"Just tell me. I thought I was going crazy, which is the only reason I believe you right now, because if this is true, then maybe I'm not going crazy." he said. He was starting to get tired of not understanding. If he could have the whole picture, maybe his head would stop spinning. Byleth got quiet again, for a while.

"You died." She finally whispered. "You died. No matter what I did, you died."

Everything slowed down after that. Claude felt like he should be panicking, but instead, an odd sense of calm settled in his body and he listened patiently as Byleth continued. She had been their teacher, a part of the Golden Deer. They had grown together, worked together, Claude had gone on to learn how to shoot arrows from the back of a wyvern and never looked back. They had gotten close, Jeralt had died.

“And then, things… Things _happened_ , and there was war.”

Claude choked.

“ _What?!”_ he sputtered. “Hold on, I feel like you’re skipping over a couple of important details here, what _things?”_

“I… I don’t want to tell you that.” She replied, looking away. “I’m trying to work everything out so that it doesn’t happen again.”

“But…” Claude started, looking wistfully at her. She looked like she was in so much _pain,_ thinking about whatever it was that she had come from. And Claude didn’t doubt her; he believed her. Something inside of him knew that she was telling the truth.

“Hey…” He started, and reached out over the table to grab her hand, but just as his fingers ghosted over it she snatched it away. Ignoring the stab in his heart, he pulled back, and looked up earnestly at her. “If you tell me, then I can help you.”

Byleth’s face twitched.

“If you know about my heritage, then I must have trusted you. And your judgment. And I trust you now. I don’t want a war, that’s actually the opposite of what I want. Let me help you.”

“I…” Byleth whispered.

“Please.”

Silence.

“Come on, you know you trust me too.” Claude tried, and a smile unexpectedly found its way to his face. When Byleth noticed, she looked away but the corners of her mouth quirked upwards ever so slightly.

“… This is strange.” She said. She was still hesitating. “You’ve got to understand that this is strange for me.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange for me too?”

Byleth froze for a second, then she _finally_ smiled and nodded slowly.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.” Byleth affirmed. Claude let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, as relief bubbled up inside him, and he smiled back brightly.

“You and me. For a peaceful world.” Claude stated. There was something utterly unreadable in Byleth’s expression, something Claude suspected had to do with details she wasn’t telling him but it made him feel weird. And warm. Anyhow, in due time, he’d learn what it all meant, he thought.

“You and me.”

**Author's Note:**

> haaaa- i haven't been in fandom for like four years (why am so OLD) and i haven't really proof-read this sorry if that's noticeable but i had a lot of FUN writing fic again!! even though they're ooc!! i'm so glad i have this account where nobody knows who i am bc i'm a little embarrassed and terrified my literary english has gone to shit!!


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